Diary entry #1

July 14^th

After the dismal tourism failure that was Osaka, I packed my small house onto my back and boarded the express train for Tottori. My spirits (to quote the honourable Mr. Bowie) were at an all time low, my shoulders were aching and my feet blistered (who ever said you didn’t need to break in thongs?). But lo! As soon as the train pulled away from the hulking, grey-concrete monoliths that passed for architecture in Osaka and slipped through the wild forested hills inland my heart lifted. The landscape was dynamic, green and verdant. There are hills everywhere, the train passing through innumerable tunnels to emerge into valleys dotted with quaint houses and ordered rice paddies. The train quite often crossed many swollen rivers as it dashed inland and the wispy low-clouds that sporadically showered the bamboo and cedared hills with light rain made me feel glad to be in Japan. This is the country that I came to see, not the stinking dirty city.

Sir S met me at Tottori station and quickly debriefed me on the situation. We would spend a few days orientating me to the Japanese countryside with several planned meeting with natives willing to give us the insights needed for our big push on the capital in a week and a half’s time.

It sounded superb.

We caught a local train to Sir S’ dormitory in the University town of Koyama (two stops from Tottori) where we stored my over sized bags. A pleasant afternoon bike ride drove home the pleasant simplicity of Japanese country life (I should note here that I have heard Tottori described by locals as one of the most boring towns in Japan). The country is well designed for cycling, with most of the settled areas being flat, making the lack of gears on the bicycle totally irrelevant. Our afternoon of cycle was one of those rare Studio Ghibli moments (My Neighbour Totoro) and was possibly the highlight of the trip.

Heading back to Tottori we booked into the local Super Hotel (I highly recommend this chain to anyone visiting Japan – it is a little tricky to book as reservations are made online and in Japanese but they are clean, cheap and include breakfast) and meet two locals – Hiroki and a new friend Yuki for Izakaya (think Tapas, but Japanese).